The Pakistan Development Review
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Towards Good Governance: Developing an e-Government
Get PDFInformation and Communication Technologies (ICT), today, are
seen as the miracle medicines for curing a nation from the ails of
corruption, mismanagement, poor governance, inflation, monopolies,
business stagnation, illiteracy and so on. One important aspect concerns
development and implementation of ICTs for the EGovernance. E-Governance
holds enormous potential in terms of improving service delivery and
efficiency, better response to business and citizen needs, and provision
of affordable government services. Defined as “Government’s use of
technology, particularly web-based Internet applications, to enhance the
access to and delivery of government information and service to
citizens, business partners, employees, other agencies, and government
entities [McClure (2000)]” or “the continuous optimisation of service
delivery, constituency participation, and governance by transforming
internal and external relationships through technology, the Internet,
and new media [Gartner Group (2000)]”. The e-government makes it
possible for a government’s different departments and organisations to
have direct access to grassroots and vice-versa. It cuts down the costs
and delivery times for the government and simultaneously becomes a tool
for check and balances against the government. The e-government in short
is a tool for good governance—transparency, participation, regulations
and accountability
Intra-ECO Trade: A Potential Region for Pakistan’s Future Trade
Get PDFA standard gravity model was applied to estimate the magnitude
of potential trade flows between Pakistan and the nine ECO member
countries. The major issue in this analysis is to explore that Intra-
ECO trade has great potential for Pakistan and that it got lower share
than its potential. The results from the gravity model confirm that ECO
has a positive and significant impact on intra-regional trade. It
suggests that intra-regional trade is lower than what would be predicted
by the gravity equation, suggesting greater scope for regional
integration among the ECO member countries. This is especially the case
between countries that have a common geographical border. The privilege
of geography and the existence of trade preferences among ECO members
could be expanded to cover potential trade to neighboring
countries
Sectoral Volatility, Development, and Governance: A Case Study of Pakistan
Get PDFDevelopment of overall economy of any country largely depends
upon the characteristics of different prominent sectors such as
agriculture, industry, services, etc. Sharp structural change in
prominent sectors are experienced by the Pakistan’s economy during the
last four decades, in which industrial and service sector have exhibited
an extra ordinary rate of growth, while the agricultural sector did not
shown that rate of growth which was experienced during the time of green
revolution. Due to these structural changes in the prominent sectors
volatility of growth rate has been experienced by the economy. To the
extent that most of the recent volatility in growth rate of GDP can be
attributed to the increasing share of the some volatility of the some
prominent sectors, the analysis of their volatility can be useful in
providing some enlightenment on the factors behind this phenomenon and
its implications for the formulation of the policy in the
future
Is Inflation in Pakistan a Monetary Phenomenon?
Get PDFThe paper finds that an increase in money supply over the
long-run results in a higher rate of inflation and thus provides support
for the quantity theory of money. It establishes that inflation is
essentially a monetary phenomenon. However, the money supply does not
instantly influence the price levels; the impact of money supply on
inflation has a considerable lag of about 9 months. While the study
shows that the money supply works through the system in less than a
year, it also points out that the system takes rather long to converge
to equilibrium if shocks appear in any of the three variables, viz.,
GDP, money supply, and prices. JEL classification: N15, E31, E51
Keywords: Growth, Inflation, Money Supply, QT
The Sinews of Governance: Bureaucracy, Narrative, and Power under Colonialism and Independence
Get PDFThis paper attempts to explore the production of an exegesis
of written output by a civil bureaucracy, and to compare this output
over two periods of governance. On the one part was the British
bureaucracy in the Indus region, but more especially the Punjab, during
British rule; and on the other the bureaucracy in Pakistan after 1947.
The intention of the paper is to analyse the problematic of governance
from a somewhat different approach, and one which to the author’s
knowledge has yet not been undertaken, in our efforts to understand the
power dynamics that have moulded the contours of governance in the Indus
region in modern times. I have attempted elsewhere an analysis of these
processes and developments.1 Therefore, rather than revisit these
materials and arguments, I will suggest here a complementary yet
distinct perspective for probing into the complexities of power and
governance in this region. The question to be posed is whether, and how,
could the emergence of a descriptive and analytical written discourse,
by public officials, itself become the articulation of a narrative of
power, authority and control. Moreover, in comparing the two periods, we
might be able to glean some insights into the capability needs of public
management and local and national governance systems, in addressing the
challenging political and socio-economic environment facing contemporary
Pakistan. These are huge areas of analysis, and mostly uncharted ones.
The present paper can only hope to raise some relevant questions, and
suggest some pertinent, if tentative, answers
Community and Economic Development in Pakistan: The Case of Citizen Community Boards in Hafizabad and a Japanese Perspectives
Get PDFIn 2001, a scheme called Citizen Community Board (CCB), a kind
of community-based organisation (CBO), was introduced in Pakistan as a
devolution policy, under which local people propose to the local
government development projects through forming a CCB and upon approval
the local government funds 80 percent of the project cost. Since 2001,
however, both the number of CCBs and that of approved projects have been
below the expected level. This raises a concern that the Pakistani
society with limited historical experience in CBO-based development is
too handicapped for the CCB scheme to be successful. Although the number
of empirical studies on Pakistan’s CCB scheme has been increasing [e.g.,
see Cheema and Mohmand (2004), Cheema, et al. (2006)], our understanding
on conditions for a success of such schemes is limited. This paper thus
attempts to analyse the conditions in the context of community and
economic development in Pakistan from Japanese Perspectives
Public Policy, Training, and Civil Service Reform
Get PDFThere are very few countries of the world that are satisfied
with their public bureaucracies and civil service systems. Civil service
reform is being discussed in Africa, Latin America, Europe and North
America [Ingraham (1996)].1 There are some that are trying to develop a
career civil service and others that are fixing the problems of having a
career civil service. There are some that are dealing with legacies of
past colonial civil service systems while others that are struggling
with identifying the role of civil service in a changing political
environment. Whatever the case may be, civil service reforms are a topic
of interest around the world. Each nation of the world is faced with the
challenge of adjusting its domestic and international policies rather
rapidly in response to forces of globalisation and technological change
[Skogstad (2000) and Farazmand (1999)].2,3 The role of the civil service
in economic development, governance, and public service is vital
irrespective of the institutional and structural differences across
countries. It is not surprising to see in the table below the number of
civil service reform programmes funded by the World Bank in different
parts of the world. The number of such programmes has significantly
increased from 1980 to 2001
Banning Two-stroke Auto-rickshaws in Lahore: Policy Implications
Get PDFThe motorcycles and rickshaws, due to being equipped with
two-stroke engines, are the most inefficient vehicles in complete
burning of fuel and thus contribute most to emission of air pollutants
in the environment. The major pollutants from two-stroke engines are
Carbon Monoxide (CO), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Hydrocarbons (HC) and
Particulate Matter (PM). Their presence in the environment causes a
number of respiratory diseases and other illnesses. For example, CO and
NOx are notorious irritants of respiratory system and have potential
suffocating action. PM causes premature death, and illness. Its presence
is accompanied by increased hospital admissions for asthma and other
bronchial conditions such as bronchitis, etc
A Survey of Proprietorship, Continental Bureaucratic Empires, and the Culture of Power, in South Asian History
Get PDFThis historical survey examines the relationship between
proprietorship, state structure, and cultures of power, over the broad
expanse of South Asian History. In doing so the focus is kept upon the
major Indian empires (Maurya, Delhi Sultanate, Mughal, British). The
paper maintains that in continental bureaucratic empires that manifest
arbitrary cultures of power the rulers perceive the state and the
country as a personal estate. Consequently, the level of insecurity even
within the elite, which can be dispossessed by the ruler, is remarkably
high. Pervasive insecurity means that the incentives to work, save, and
invest, are greatly diminished, and the creativity and enterprise that
sustain qualitative improvement in the economic and technological base
are by and large lacking. This pattern manifests itself more or less
consistently until the British period when, for a number of reasons,
private property, the rule of law, and other reforms are introduced. A
new dynamic gains momentum an the basis for a modern economy are
laid
Trade Policy, Openness, Institutions
Get PDFThis paper examines the importance of institutions vis-à-vis
openness and trade policies in determining per capita income differences
across countries. Recent literature has tried to demonstrate that more
open economies grow faster. On the other hand, it has also been asserted
that it is not openness per se but institutions and good governance that
matter in promoting growth. This paper attempts to test this hypothesis
across a crosssection of nations. Unlike other papers in the field, we
have tested not only for the degree of openness but also for trade
policy indicators, as well as a fuller set of six institutional
variables. Our broad finding is that although institutions matter, trade
policies are also relevant to promoting growth, whereas openness per se
has little impact on growth. JEL Classification: F15; O10. Keywords:
International Integration; Economic Development